[naviga:h3]College admissions won’t be probed[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Wednesday it had no broad plans to investigate whether college and university admission programs discriminate against students based on race, seeking to defray worries that a job posting signaled an effort to reverse course on affirmative action.

News reports of the posting inflamed advocacy groups that believed it would lead to legal action against universities for not admitting white students over minorities with similar qualifications.

But a day after The New York Times reported the department was seeking current attorneys interested in “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the Justice Department said the job ad was related to just one complaint.

The memo caused much hand-wringing Wednesday, with questions reaching the White House, where spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she doesn’t know whether President Donald Trump believes that white college applicants are victims of discrimination.

[naviga:h3]Trump signs ‘flawed’ sanctions[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dealt a striking congressional rebuke, Donald Trump grudgingly signed what he called a “seriously flawed” package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, bowing for the moment to resistance from both parties to his push for warmer ties with Moscow.

Trump signed the most significant piece of legislation of his presidency with no public event. And he coupled it with a written statement, resentful in tone, that accused Congress of overstepping its constitutional bounds, impeding his ability to negotiate with foreign countries and lacking any ability to strike deals.

“Congress could not even negotiate a health care bill after seven years of talking,” he said scornfully of lawmakers’ recent failure to repeal “ObamaCare” as he and other Republicans have promised for years. “As president, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.”

Still, he said, “despite its problems, I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity.”